Steelers release tackle Adams
PITTSBURGH – Citing a failed physical, the Steelers released former starting left tackle Mike Adams Thursday.
Adams missed the 2015 season with a back injury that forced him to undergo surgery a week before the opening of training camp. The issue had gotten better but not enough for him to pass his physical for the Steelers.
“Any time with injuries, there’s always uncertainty, but we missed him last year,” Steelers offensive line coach Mike Munchak said of Adams last weekend.
A second-round draft pick in 2012 out of Ohio State, Adams fell to the Steelers after he failed a drug test at the NFL Draft Combine. He sent letters to all 32 NFL teams asking them for a second chance and the Steelers gave him that opportunity, acquiring a player considered one of the top offensive tackles in that draft class in the second round.
Adams appeared in 10 games as a rookie, making six starts, then opened the 2013 season as the starting left tackle before losing the job to Kelvin Beachum after four games.
Adams still started 10 games that season, filling in at right tackle and as a blocking tight end.
Adams also made news prior to the 2014 season, when he was the victim of a stab wound in an altercation on Pittsburgh’s South Side. He recovered from those wounds to play 16 games that season, including four starts.
All told, he appeared in 41 games for the Steelers, making 20 starts.
The Steelers also lost Beachum in the offseason in free agency after he signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars, but have Alejandro Villanueva and free-agent signee Ryan Harris to battle for the left tackle position. Harris started at left tackle for Denver last season.
“Obviously, Villanueva is the one (who’s) most familiar with the position coming in,” Munchak said. “That won’t mean a whole lot. Harris is new to the offense. He just got a Super Bowl ring so he brings a lot of experience to the room also. We have a lot of good problems to have. We’re going to have some good competition.”
Pittsburgh also selected tackle Jerald Hawkins in the fourth round of the draft last week.
Two of the Steelers’ draft picks signed contracts with the team: Houston wide receiver DeMarcus Ayers and Temple linebacker Tyler Matakevich.
Ayers, Pittsburgh’s first selection of the seventh round, is expected to compete for a job as a return specialist and receiver.
Matakevich, the Steelers’ second pick in the seventh round, was the 2015 Bronco Nagurski Award winner as college football’s best defensive player.
In addition to Adams, kicker Ty Long and running back Abou Toure were released as the Steelers trimmed their roster to the NFL limit of 90 players in advance of rookie mini-camp this weekend.